Talk about unreachable records in NASCAR must include Richard Petty. His 200 career victories in its biggest racing series is on a plane with Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak or Cal Ripken Jr.'s 2,632 consecutive games played.

Consider: Jimmie Johnson won for the 76th time in Sprint Cup racing last week at Atlanta. That ties him with Dale Earnhardt for seventh place all time. That's terrific.

Petty's 200 wins dwarf the total of his nearest competitor. David Pearson, a Petty contemporary, won 105 races.

Johnson is 40; he'll turn 41 before the 2016 Cup season ends. He is called Six-time because that's how many Cup championships he has won. That's one fewer than Petty and Earnhardt, who have seven. So, yes, tying those stock-car racing legends in career championships is possible.

Petty's final victory was in 1984 at age 47, so let's project Johnson's win totals to age 47. Having won 76 times in 509 races, Johnson has averaged a victory roughly every 6.7 times he raced. If he drives seven more years, at 36 races per year, he could add 46 victories to his career total.

That could bring him to 122 victories, topping Pearson but leaving Johnson well behind The King's 200. Remember, the operative word is "could."

Earnhardt, by the way, won 76 times in 676 races, so given those career averages, Johnson should do better than The Intimidator. Earnhardt died two months shy of his 50th birthday. His final win was in 2000, five months before he died in a crash at Daytona.

Winning a seventh — or eighth — championship might be more likely for Johnson than winning more than 100 races. He has the talent, his support from Hendrick Motorsports is enviable and Johnson's health is admirable. He won't miss races barring significant injuries. We don't see Johnson racing sprint cars or running dune buggies.

Johnson might well drive every race the next seven years. Last fall, he said he had no plans to end his career.

"When I feel like it's time, I am going to make that decision," Johnson told media members last fall. "Certainly (I) don't feel like it's time now."

He has good reasons.

"I remember watching Rusty (Wallace) pick a number and then remember talking to (him) in years following that and I still think he's mad he stopped," Johnson said. "I think he feels like he could be out here racing with us and winning races.

"So conversations with him, with Dale Jarrett, with other guys ... I have always been curious. Why, when, what tells you to stop? Mark (Martin) tried a half dozen times to retire and couldn't walk away.

"So I want to make sure I do it once and not keep coming back."

Among active drivers, Tony Stewart has 48 wins. He plans to retire after the 2016 season.

The driver most likely to push Johnson's eventual win total? Kyle Busch, who has 34 wins.

Busch, who turns 31 in May, has averaged one victory every 11.5 races, so assuming he drives through age 47, Busch could win 53 more races if his average holds. That's 87, which would leave him behind Gordon's total.

Admittedly there is no direct comparison of the eras in which Earnhardt drove, or in which Petty raced, and modern NASCAR. We are left with the projection of averages as the best means of ranking these racers.

Petty, however, won 200 of 1,184 career races — an average of 5.92 starts per win. That includes eight seasons after his last victory. Throw those numbers out — 227 races — and Petty won once every 4.785 races.

This much is evident: Nobody will rival Richard Petty's 200 career victories.